MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

'His Dark Materials' author Philip Pullman calls young people ‘wimps’ for bad punctuation, fans clap back

Despite being the author of the globally-acclaimed children's fantasy adventure, the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, Philip Pullman can't stand the young generation's new-fangled approach to punctuation

On the heels of the announcement of the November premiere of 'His Dark Materials' Season 2 on HBO, Philip Pullman, author of the book series on which the show is made, was making news of his own. 

Pullman, who maintains an active Twitter presence, often comments on politics, religion, and the like. But he reserved his ire for something far more mundane when he took to Twitter on September 1. "Apparently young people feel that full stops are threatening or angry and messages are friendlier without them bunch of wimps," he tweeted, expressing his frustration about how younger generations were playing fast and loose with the sacred rules of punctuation in their communications.

He followed this up with an invitation to "fight" if anyone opposed his views since he felt that "unpunctuated messages" conveyed to him an "undertone of carelessness and offhand contempt".

His tweet generated a robust thread that discussed the role of punctuation in casual forms of communication via SMS, tweets vs more formal communication in emails. But a snarky fan also pointed out that Pullman was complaining about his "target demographic" in one tweet that simply asked: "The same young people who are your target demographic?" to which the author replied: "Targets are things you aim guns at. I don't have a 'target demographic'. I have readers, and I appreciate them very much." His tweet highlighted how he has readers of all ages, even though his books have mostly been categorized as children's literature or YA fiction. 

Another user pointed out to Pullman that demanding punctuation meant assuming that everyone had the same level of education. "I used to be a dreary grammar Nazi, until someone pointed out the inherent privilege in assuming everyone had the same education or abilities when it comes to the written word," the tweet stated.

Others said that this new way of looking at punctuation was just another way that language was changing and evolving like it always has, calling out Pullman's privilege as a gatekeeper. One of these tweet's expressing this sentiment stated: "language changes across mediums and prescriptivism is boring. and usually racist. you really seem like you're turning into a reactionary old man lately and it's pretty depressing."

Another tweet, echoing this take, said: "This is such a privileged comment. There are people out there who have not been fortunate enough to attend school, or simply do not understand grammar well enough to use it confidently or correctly. That does not been they're careless. Surely what matters most is the message?"

Others schooled the author about how the use of punctuation is more nuanced in casual texting or tweeting with one tweet saying: "Although I hate it, I find myself more and more having to put exclamation marks in informal correspondence because full stops now sound grumpy rather than neutral. See you soon! = jaunty sign-off See you soon. = borderline threat."

One English literature student from Warwick seemed especially triggered by Pullman's tweet, releasing a series of comments in response, breaking it all down for the author. "It's a real shame to see so many are buying into this media rhetoric of 'the younger generations are lazy over-sensitive drones' rather than using some critical thinking to recognize this for the interesting linguistical shifts these are. No one feels 'threatened'", her first tweet said.

Her ending salvo remarked, "Kids aren't wimps, they're REALLY clever and CREATIVE with the new ways in which we can use language. I really wish more people would recognize this, because media stories like this one about full stops are constantly dismissing the vast intelligence of the younger generations." 

Pullman seemed to take all the discussion and debate in his stride and his last tweet on the subject showed that his opinions hadn't changed with regards to punctuation since his last tweet on the matter ended with a full stop: "This is all very interesting." 

The irony of the whole storm in the teacup was that his first tweet that started the debate in the first place did not have a full stop -- so he was essentially replicating what he accused flaky "young people" of doing. Make what you will of that!